Thermal breaker strip



Nov. 21, 1967 J. P. HEILWEIL ET L THERMAL BREAKER STRIP Filed Feb. 8, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 R .5 x T WW 2 M5 m M? M Nov. 21,1967 p HE|LwE|L ET AL THERMAL BREAKER STR IP 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 8, 1965' 0 w M M! 2m United States Patent vania Filed Feb. 8, 1965, Ser. No. 431,142 4 Claims. (Cl. 49489) This invention relates to a thermal breaker strip for use around the opening leading into a refrigerated cabinet so as to minimize heat exchange between said cabinet and the door which closes said opening.

One object of the invention is to produce an improved breaker strip for the purpose set forth.

In order to draw the door into, and to hold it in, tightly closed position, it used to be the practice to provide a complicated, and relatively expensive latch which has spring-loaded toggles and eccentrics, etc., which were adapted to be triggered by the initial contact with a keeper. In addition to being bulky and expensive, the powerful and fast acting latch mechanism referred to could crush or snap off a finger carelessly thrust into the opening which receives the keeper.

To avoid these disadvantages, it has been proposed to provide a magnetic element carried by a gasket on the door and a magnet-attracting strip carried by the front wall of the refrigerated cabinet, or vice versa. In order to produce a tight seal, the magnet used must be strong enough to close the door with a force sufiicient to effect a tight seal between the door and the cabinet, and if the magnet and the magnet-attracting strip are not to be too heavy and expensive, it is necessary that at least the magnet, or the magnet-attracting strip, be exposed to the direct action of the other. An exposed magnet, or magnetattracting strip, presents a metallic surface which, when cold, induces condensation of moisture from the air. The condensed moisture tends to drip on to the floor or other support; tends to collect dirt; and tends to produce rust or other damage. Furthermore if the metallic surface is cooled enough, the condensate can freeze and prevent opening of the door until it is de-iced.

It is therefore a further object of this'invention to produce an improved thermal breaker strip for supporting an exposed magnet-attracting strip in such a thoroughly insulated manner that the strip remains at, or close to, room temperature, thus preventing, or greatly reducing condensation thereon.

The breaker strip against which the door abuts when closed, sooner or later fatigues or wears out and must be replaced.

It is therefore a still further object of the invention to produce a thermal breaker strip formed of a first part which is permanently secured to the front wall of the cabinet and which does not come in contact with the door,

and a second part which is detachably engaged with said first part by a snap on action and which takes the brunt of the repeated impact of the door whereby only the second part need be replaced.

A still further object is to produce an improved thermal breaker strip which is made of a material having a very low coefficient of heat conductivity; which has sufiicient rigidity to withstand the impact of the door; and which has sufiicient resiliency to permit the engagement and disengagement of said first and second parts of the strip by snap action.

A still further object of the invention is to produce a thermal breaker strip which includes a readily accessible channel for the electric wires which, conventionally, are embedded in the foam, or other, insulation which is used between the outer wall and the inner liner of the refrigerated cabinet.

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A still further object is to produce a highly eificient thermal breaker which is inexpensive to manufacture and is easy to install.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a conventional refrigerator provided with a thermal breaker strip embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view on line 22 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, perspective View of the first part of the breaker strip which is shown in FIG. 2 and which is permanently secured to the front wall of the refrigerated cabinet.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the second part of the thermal breaker strip which is shown in FIG. 2 and which is detachably securable to the first part to form the breaker strip shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view showing the first step in snapping the second part of the breaker strip on to the first part.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view and shows the second, and last step in securing the parts of the breaker strip together.

FIG. '7 is a top plan view showing the parts secured together with the door and the wall of the refrigerated cabinet which are shown in FIG. 1, omitted for clarity.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary exploded view showing details of construction.

FIG. 9 is similar to FIG. 2 but showing another embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 10, 11, 12, and 13, are similar to FIGS. 3, 4, 6, and 7, but relate to the embodiment of FIG. 9.

In the drawings, 10 designates a conventional refrigerator having a front opening 11 which is closed by a conventional door 12 provided with a handle 14. Since the refrigerator, as such, forms no part of this invention, only a portion 16 of one side wall of the refrigerated cabinet, and the corresponding portion '18 of the door are shown in FIGS. 2 and 9. It will be understood, however, that the breaker strip which is carried by side wall portion 16 andwhich is generally designated as 20, and the gasket which is carried by the door and which is generally designated as 22, continue along the entire perimeter of the cabinet opening and along the entire perimeter of the door as shown by the broken lines in FIG. 1.

In both embodiments, the thermal breaker strip is formed of two complementary parts A and B, and A and B. See FIGS. 3 and 4 and FIGS. 10 and 11.

In both embodiments, parts A and A may be described as the fixed elements, and parts B and B may be described as the removable elements of the respective breaker strips.

In the first embodiment of the breaker strip which is shown in FIGS. 2 to 8, the fixed element A includes an inner wall 24 which extends across the entire width of the side wall portion 16 of the cabinet and which is adapted to be permanently secured to the front face of side wall portion 16. I

As can be seen from FIG. 2 the side wall of the re-; frigerated cabinet is formed of an inner liner 28 and outer liners 29 and 30. The end of liner 29 is bent as at 31 and the end of liner 30 is extended as at 30A and bent as at 33 to provide a pocket which is hereinafter referred to.

Wall 24 is extended rearwardly to form arcuate element 32 which encloses flange 34 of side wall 28 and v abuts said wall, as shown in FIG. 2. Adjacent arcuate element 32, wall 24 is provided with forwardly extending flanges 36 and 38 which define channel 40 therebetween. Part A of the breaker strip also includes walls 42, 44, and 46, which with the aligning portion of wall 24 define a-first dead air chamber 47 which overlies a portion of the front face of side wall 16. It will be noted that channel 40 is at an acute angle to the plane of rear wall 24, and that front wall 44 is also provided with a similarly inclined, forwardly projecting rib 48 and with an extension 50.

Until relatively recently, the space between inner liner 28 and outer liners 29 and 30 was filled with glass wool, asbestos fibers, and the like. But, over the last few years, insulation is provided by using certain chemically interacting reagents which combine to form a light, rigid foam which has a very low coeflicient of heat transfer and which lends rigidity to the structure. In carrying out this invention, part A of the breaker strip is placed in the position shown in FIG. 2 in which walls 24 and 44 abut walls 31 and 33, and wall 46 abuts the forward extension 30A of outer liner 30. With parts in the position illustrated, the foam producing chemicals are introduced to form the foam 49 which is shown in FIG. 2. This foam adheres to walls 24, 28, 29, and 31 to secure the parts together with the desired rigidity.

Part B of the breaker strip, which is best shown in FIG, 4, includes a side wall 52 having an offset end portion 54 which is adapted to engage channel 40, FIGS. and 6, and a front wall 56 which coacts with walls 42 and 52, and with the aligning portion of wall 24 to form a second dead air chamber 57 which may accommodate electric Wires W, and which aligns with the remaining portion of side wall 16, FIG. 2.

Front wall 56 of part B, is provided with bosses 60 in which are formed outwardly diverging slots 62 and 64 for receiving the oppositely deflected flanges 66 of a magnetically permeable strip 68. Front wall 56 is also provided with a hooklike rib 70 which is adapted to engage extension 50 of wall 44 and with a rib 72 which is adapted to snap over and to engage rib 48 as shown in FIG. 7. The end wall 56 opposite wall 52 is turned inwardly to form flange 74 which forms an abutment for the similarly turned flange 76 of bent portion 33 of outer wall extension 30A. It will be noted. that flange 54 is deflected in a direction opposite to the deflection of channel 40 and that rib 72 is deflected in a direction opposite to the deflection of rib 48. It will also be noted from FIG. 5 that, if flange 54 is inserted into channel 40, the tapered end of hook 70 can be forced past the tapered end of flange or extension 50, or from the position of FIG. 5 to the position of FIG. 6. But, it will be seen from FIG. 6 that rib 72 will abut rib 48, head on, and that to engage rib 72 with rib 48, as shown in FIG. 7, it is necessary to compress part A of the strip by pushing walls 46 and 52 toward each other, or in the direction of the arrows in FIG. 6, so as to move rib 48 out of alignment of rib 72. With part A thus compressed, wall 56 is pressed inwardly to cause rib 72 and flange 74 to abut wall 44. When the pressure on walls 46 and 52 is relieved, the tendency of the parts to resume their original shape, causes r'ib 48 to move-into tight engagement with rib 72, as shown in FIG. 7, and due to their opposite deflections, the engagement of ribs 48 and 72 locks part B to part A. To disengage part B from part A, wall 52 must again be moved toward wall 46 to allow rib 72 to clear rib 48, or from the position of FIG. 7 to the position of FIG. 6. The opposite deflections of channel 40 and flange 54 also serve to prevent withdrawal of flange 54 from channel 40 as long as rib 48 engages rib 72.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that to assemble parts A and B of the breaker strip, it is merely necessary to insert the flange 54 into channel 40 and to press walls 46 and 52 toward each other, until rib 72 moves past rib 48, and vice versa. It will be seen also that this can be done without the use of nails, screws, or thelike, and without any tools, or any special skill.

Parts A and B of the breaker strip are preferably extruded and are made of material which is rigid enough to withstand the repeated impact of the door but which is resilient enough to permit the mi g comp ession 7 above referred to. Such materials are presently available On the open market.

The gasket 22 includes a base flange 79 which is suitably secured to the inner face 80 of the door, and carries a bulb-like structure 82 which defines an enclosure for accommodating a magnet 84 adapted to be attracted by strip 68 to draw the door to closed position.

Because strip 68 is not in any way obstructed, and because the strip and the magnet extend over the entire periphery of the door and completely around the opening closed by the door, a relatively small unobtrusive and inexpensive magnet can be used. Also, its thorough insulation from the wall of the refrigerated compartment keeps magnet attracting element 68 at, or close to, the ambient temperature, thus preventing condensation of moisture thereon.

In. the embodiment of FIG. 9, part A of the breaker strip is provided with an angular wall which terminates in a round rib 92 which coacts with round rib 94 to provide a narrow entrance into a cavity 96, and part B is provided with an arrow shaped tongue 98 which can be introduced into cavity 96 by forcing ribs 92 and 94 apart. It will be noted that the contour of member 98 is somewhat rounded so as to facilitate its insertion and withdrawal but that its size and shape are such as to prevent accidental disengagement of part B from part A of the breaker strip.

In the embodiment of FIG. 9, false outer liner 29' is extended forward and bent to form wall 31 which abuts wall 44' and outer liner 30' is extended forward and bent to provide wall 33' which terminates in flange 76' which corresponds to flange 76 of the embodiment of FIG. 2. Walls 31' and 33' coact to form a chamber for receiving heating wire W-1 which may be used if it is found necessary to raise the temperature of magnet attracting strip 68' to prevent condensation thereon.

Flange 76 is also engageable with rib 100 and forms an abutment for the beveled edge of wall 56 when the parts are assembled as shown in FIG. 9.

It will be noted that, in both embodiments, the front face of wall 16 is fully covered by dead air spaces of substantial depth; that the metal exposed to the refrigerated area is effectively separated, by the breaker strip, from any contact with the metal exposed to the ambient temperature; and that the part of the strip which is subject to the repeated impact of the door is easily removed and replaced.

Arcuate portion 32 provides a trim finish which covers the edge of inner liner 28 and the edge of outer wall 38 of channel 40.

In practice, Wall 24 serves to bridge the gap between the metal of the inner and outer liners so as to seal that opening during the generation of the foam between said inner and outer liners.

What we claim is:

1. A thermal breaker strip for use between a cabinet wall having a surface defining an opening leading into a temperature-conditioned cabinet and a door for closing said opening, said strip including a first, generally flat wall secured to the surface of said cabinet wall,

a first tubular structure carried by a portion of said first wall and providing a dead air space overlying a portion of the surface of said surface of said cabine wall adjacent one edge thereof,

'a channel formed on a second portion of said first wall near the other edge of said surface,

a flange. carried by said first wall beyond said channel and engaging an adjacent side of said cabinet wall, and

a second wall having a first section which abuts said first tubular structure, a second section overlying and spaced from the said second portion of said 6 first wall, and a third section substantially normal References Cited to said second section and having a free face edge UNITED STATES PATENTS engageable in said channel,

said second section, the adjacent wall of said first tubu- 2206717 7/1940 Dodge 49487 lar structure and said third section coacting to form 5 2256013 9/1941 Brouse a second tubular structure overlying said second por- 353F53 55 tion of said first wall.

2. The thermal strip defined in claim 1 in which the 2'958210 11/1960 R111. 312 214X outer face of said second wall is provided with a slot for 5193 9 1962 smlth 49-70 receiving a magnetically permeable strip. 10 FOREIGN PATENTS 3. The thermal strip defined in claim 1 and comple- I 161 162 8/1958 France mentary fastening devices carried by said first wall and 12/1952 Great firitain by a juxtaposed portion of said second wall for detachably securing said second wall to said first wall. DAVID WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner 4. The thermal strip defined in claim 3 in which at 15 least said fastening devices are flexible and interengage HARRISON MOSELEY Emmmer' by snap-0n action. P. C. KANNAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A THERMAL BREAKER STRIP FOR USE BETWEEN A CABINET WALL HAVING A SURFACE DEFINING AN OPENING LEADING INTO A TEMPERATURE-CONDITIONED CABINET AND A DOOR FOR CLOSING SAID OPENING, SAID STRIP INCLUDING A FIRST, GENERALLY FLAT WALL SECURED TO THE SURFACE OF SAID CABINET WALL, A FIRST TUBULAR STRUCTURE CARRIED BY A PORTION OF SAID FIRST WALL AND PROVIDING A DEAD AIR SPACE OVERLYING A PORTION OF THE SURFACE OF SAID SURFACE OF SAID CABINET WALL ADJACENT ONE EDGE THEREOF, A CHANNEL FORMED ON A SECOND PORTION OF SAID FIRST WALL NEAR THE OTHER EDGE OF SAID SURFACE, A FLANGE CARRIED BY SAID FIRST WALL BEYOND SAID CHANNEL AND ENGAGING AN ADJACENT SIDE OF SAID CABINET WALL, AND A SECOND WALL HAVING A FIRST SECTION WHICH ABUTS SAID FIRST TUBULAR STRUCTURE, A SECOND SECTION OVERLYING AND SPACED FROM THE SAID SECOND PORTION OF SAID FIRST WALL, AND A THIRD SECTION SUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL TO SAID SECOND SECTION AND HAVING A FREE FACE EDGE ENGAGEABLE IN SAID CHANNEL, SAID SECOND SECTION, THE ADJACENT WALL OF SAID FIRT TUBULAR STRUCTURE AND SAID THIRD SECTION COACTING TO FORM A SECOND TUBULAR STRUCTURE OVERLYING SAID SECOND PORTION OF SAID FIRST WALL. 